run to seed

Idioms  

1. Also, go to seed. Become devitalized or worn out; deteriorate, as in I went back to visit my old elementary school, and sadly, it has really run to seed, or The gold medalist quickly went to seed after he left competition. This term alludes to plants that, when allowed to set seed after flowering, either taste bitter, as in the case of lettuce, or do not send out new buds, as is true of annual flowers. Its figurative use dates from the first half of the 1800s.

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Example Sentences

See Examples For:

run to seed

Catherine, meanwhile, had run to seed and spent as much time as possible lying in bed eating sweets.

From The Wall Street Journal ● May 1, 2026

It is an annual if allowed to run to seed; but its growth can be continued by cutting when four or five feet high, and green feed obtained all the year round.

From The Hawaiian Islands Their Resources, Agricultural, Commercial and Financial by Hawaii. Dept. of Foreign Affairs

Respectability had run to seed in those chambers.

From The Orchard of Tears by Sax Rohmer

There are too many of them; and when they run to seed, they fly away like little pieces of wool over the roads, and hang and cling to people's dress.

From What the Moon Saw: and Other Tales by H. W. (Henry William) Dulcken

There were long borders of dripping, storm-dashed flowers in front of them, and mignonette run to seed, and dahlias filled with moisture to their brims.

From Peter and Jane or The Missing Heir by S. (Sarah) Macnaughtan